HKSAR v. IP CHUN KEUNG RAYMOND

DCCC 154/2013

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 154 of 2013

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Reasons for Sentence

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1. Defendant, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug, contrary to section 4(l)(a) and (3) of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.

2. You have admitted that on 14 November 2012 outside the Broadway Theatre in Tsuen Wan you trafficked in 102.77 grammes of a powder containing 82.6 grammes of ketamine. 

3. On the evening in question the police mounted an anti-narcotics operation at Tsuen Wan.  At about 9.45 pm they saw a taxi parked outside the Broadway Theatre.  You were sitting in the driver’s seat of the taxi and kept looking around.  Believing you looked suspicious they intercepted you.  Upon search they found upon you 14 transparent resealable plastic bags containing the suspected dangerous drugs as in the charge. 

4. The average retail price for the drugs in November would be $119 per gramme, therefore the amount which you had in your possession could have sold for $12,229. 

5. The 14 packets of drugs as can be seen from the GCC were split approximately as to six packets containing 13½ grammes of powder, and the remaining packets were packaged in amounts of about 2.7 grammes. 

6. Mr Littlewoods has mitigated on your behalf today and I have taken into account all that he has had to say. 

7. You are a man aged 42 and of clear record.  The antecedents are well set out in the antecedent statement, and as Mr Littlewoods rightly points out, why is it at this age did you suddenly commit such a serious offence?

8. I am informed you did so as you were financially constrained.  You were providing support to your partner who is suffering from cancer, so you succumbed to making money to provide for her expenses in this illegal way. Further as a result of the stress that you were going through you started taking drugs.  Mr Littlewoods tells me that of the 14 packets, one of the larger packets was for your own consumption, which was about 10 grammes.  It is very surprising that you should be committing such a very serious offence, more so that you are a taxi driver driving the public as passengers around. 

9. There is nothing worse for a member of the public to be a passenger in a taxi with a driver who has taken drugs or is a consumer of drugs.  You actions are highly irresponsible.  If you were driving under the influence of drugs, you are causing great danger to passengers.  I note that there is no evidence of you consuming drugs and this is not an aggravating factor in this case at all, but it is most distressing to see taxi drivers who are dependent on drugs or who take drugs take the safety of the public in their hands.

10. Defendant, Mr  Littlewoods has explained to you, and he has told me that you are well-aware of the guidelines for trafficking in dangerous drugs of ketamine.  The Court of Appeal has laid down the guidelines in the case of Hii Siew Cheng and they are well-known now.  The amount of drugs to which you were trafficking in in the charge is 82.6 grammes. 

11. I accept the mitigation put forward by Mr Littlewoods, and the prosecution does not challenge this fact, that one packet of drugs was for your own consumption.  That amount was about 10 grammes.  The amount that you were trafficking in would therefore be 72.6 grammes of ketamine. 

12. In following the guidelines of Hii Siew Cheng, that would mean that the appropriate sentence as a starting point after trial would be one of 6 years’ imprisonment, and giving you full credit for your plea of guilty, that term shall be reduced to one of 4 years’ imprisonment, to which you shall be so sentenced.